UPDATE 1-Canada minister says currency dive offers opportunity

TORONTO Jan 14 (Reuters) - Canada's manufacturing sector is
happy about the weakening of the country's currency, which
presents "remarkable opportunities," the government's junior
finance minister said on Tuesday, suggesting Ottawa is not upset
by the slide.

"I think ... the manufacturing sector (is) quite pleased
that we have a dollar that the value is down from what it was a
number of months ago," Kevin Sorenson, secretary of state for
finance, told reporters after giving a speech in Toronto.

His comments were similar to those made earlier this month
by the finance and industry ministers, suggesting the
Conservative government is not overly worried by the Canadian
dollar's recent steep fall.

The Canadian dollar lost ground every day last week
and touched a more than four-year low against the greenback on
Friday after news of heavy job losses in December. It closed
slightly higher on Monday at C$1.0846 to the greenback, or 92.20
U.S. cents.

A strong currency in the years following the global
financial crisis has often been cited as a problem for the
country's export sector, which does business primarily with the
United States.

"I would say that with the dollar being low there is
remarkable opportunity," Sorenson said. "We're an exporting
country and as you know by far the majority of everything we
manufacture here and everything we grow here we export and so
there's opportunity."

Canadian authorities do not intervene in the foreign
exchange market except in extreme circumstances in which
volatility is believed to be destabilizing the financial system.
Continued...